New England Patriots

Tom Brady suffered a football-related concussion last year that nobody knew about -- and he secretly gets concussions all the time -- so says his wife, Gisele.

The supermodel appeared on "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday and expressed frustration with Tom's health ... particularly the brain injuries he suffers on the field.

"Football ... like he had a concussion last year," Gisele said.

"I mean he has concussions pretty much every [year] ... I mean, we don't talk about. But he does have concussions."

This could be a big deal ... considering Brady was not listed on the NFL injury list for a concussion once in 2016. It begs the question ... was the injury covered up to keep him on the field?

In the NFL, if a player is diagnosed with a concussion during a game, he is NOT allowed to return to the field for the remainder of that game. He may return the following week at the discretion of his doctor.

"I don’t really think it’s a healthy thing for your body to go through like, through that kind of aggression like, all the time–that cannot be healthy for you, right?"

"I mean I’m planning on having him be healthy and do a lot of fun things when we’re like 100, I hope."

Tom Brady is scaring the living hell out of Patriots fans -- not only is he on the new cover of Madden ... but he's essentially sticking his middle finger up at the curse!!!

Now that Aaron Hernandez is no longer a convicted murderer, Robert Kraft WILL fork over a check for the $6 million he reportedly owes the ex-NFL star ... so says Willie McGinest.

As we previously reported, Aaron's legal team has been in contact with NFL agents to determine if the New England Patriots will have to pay out the remainder of his deal due to the abatement of his murder conviction.

McGinest -- who played 12 seasons with the Patriots -- says he believes Kraft will ultimately oblige and pay what he owes ... for 2 reasons.

The first reason -- McGinest says Kraft "has a heart" and will want to make sure Aaron's daughter is taken care of.

The second reason -- McGinest says if the law requires him to pay, he's not the kind of guy who will try to duck his obligation.

Aaron Hernandez's attorney, Jose Baez, says his legal team is in talks with the NFL player's former agents to see how the abatement of his murder conviction will affect his contract with the Patriots.

There are theories that with the murder conviction erased, the New England Patriots will be on the hook to pay out the remainder of his contract to Aaron's estate ... a number reportedly around $6 million.

Baez says Aaron's family and legal team are still grieving over Aaron's death and while they're exploring their options, they're not rushing to action.

As for prosecutors suggesting that Hernandez planned to kill himself in a plot to exploit the abatement doctrine to force the Patriots to pay out his family ... Baez says it's a long shot theory and "I don't give it any shred of credibility at this point."

9:05 AM PT -- The Bristol County D.A.'s Office just said they plan to appeal the judge's decision.

Aaron Hernandez's conviction for the murder of Odin Lloyd has officially been dismissed by a judge.

The case went before the court in Massachusetts early Tuesday morning where Hernandez's team argued that the conviction cannot stand because he had not exhausted all of his appeals before his death. The doctrine is called abatement ab initio.

Prosecutors argued against it -- claiming Hernandez knew about the rule and used it as a loophole in a diabolical plot to get millions of dollars from the Patriots for his family.

The evidence, prosecutors claim, was spelled out in his suicide note to his fiancee, Shayanna Jenkins ... in which he told her, "You're rich!"

Prosecutors say Hernandez knew if his conviction was erased the Patriots would have to pay out the remainder of his NFL contract ... estimated to be worth around $6 million.

Prosecutors claimed he shouldn't be rewarded for cutting his own appeal short by committing suicide -- but ultimately the judge didn't see it their way ... and cleared the conviction.

Odin Lloyd's family was in the courtroom when the judge announced her decision. They were visibly upset and left the courtroom in a rush.

Tom Brady is all about tradition -- so, he's rounded up some of his favorite New England Patriots teammates and they're all flying to the Kentucky Derby on a private jet.

Tom's backups Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett joined other Pats like Julian Edelman for the trip to Churchill Downs for the big race this weekend ... as seen in the pic first posted by Pats color analyst Scott Zolak.

Once they landed, the guys met up with Aaron Rodgers.

Tom does the Derby almost every year -- but our favorite memory is when his then-teammate Wes Welker won BIG and handed out $100 bills to random people.

Another comeback for Julian Edelman?

Just a few months after calling it quits, the Patriots WR and supermodel Adriana Lima reconnected in NYC Monday night to party together after the Met Gala ... but it's not exactly a reconciliation.

The two were spotted together hitting up Rihanna's after-party at 1 OAK -- where they arrived in the same car.

Our sources tell us things were pretty frosty between the two after they split earlier this year -- but it seems the ice has thawed. We're told they're definitely NOT back together but it's clear they're on much better terms.

Edelman and Lima were not each other's dates for the Gala -- Edelman arrived to the affair with fellow Pats WR Danny Amendola and they sat at Tom Brady's table.

After Julian Edelman made that INSANE catch at Super Bowl 51, he gave the gloves he was wearing to someone very special ... Guy Fieri's son!!

Turns out, Julian and Guy are pretty good friends -- and after that insane comeback, the Patriots star spotted Guy and his kid on the field ... and wanted to give them a game-used souvenier!

Guy says his kid was PUMPED -- but as fate would have it, he didn't get to keep them that long ... because days after the game, they got a call from someone very important asking to hand them over.

The Fieris complied -- but don't worry, the gloves are in a very cool place ... and Edelman made sure he got some cool replacement gear.

It's good to be a Fieri!

Tom Brady didn't get his White House visit sacked by his supermodel wife ... that's according to his ex-teammate, Donte Stallworth, who tells TMZ Sports Brady would never duck his guy, Donald Trump.

The lawyer for Odin Lloyd's family says the New England Patriots may be on the hook to pay Aaron Hernandez $6 MILLION from his NFL contract ... but he wants the team to give the money to the victim's family instead.

Douglas Sheff -- who represents Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward -- addressed the media about "abatement" ... the law in Massachusetts that essentially erases a conviction if the person dies before he's exhausted all of his appeals.

Sheff says he's spoken with experts who say if Hernandez's murder conviction is erased, the Patriots may be forced to pay out part of his contract ... which could total $6 million.

Sheff says the Lloyd family intends to fight like hell for that money.

He also makes a "friendly challenge" to the Patriots to work with the NFL Players Association in working out a deal to pay that money to the families of the victims in Hernandez's murder cases instead of giving it to Aaron's estate.

Seems Donald Trump isn't happy with Tom Brady -- because he didn't mention the QB's name ONCE at the White House ceremony honoring the New England Patriots.

Of course, Brady did not attend the ceremony, citing "personal family matters" -- shocking considering the two were supposedly friends.

Donald Trump has sung Brady's praises publicly on numerous occasions, saying he is the greatest QB who ever lived -- so for him to go radio silent during the ceremony sends a strong message ... he's pissed.

Rob Gronkowski offered his services to the Trump Administration Wednesday morning -- crashing Sean Spicer's White House briefing to ask if he needed any help!

Of course, Gronk's in town with the rest of the New England Patriots (minus Tom Brady and a few others) to visit President Trump for winning the Super Bowl.

Spicer laughed. The press laughed. And then it was back to Iran.

Meantime, the players who did show up took a photo at the White House along with team owner Robert Kraft and a bunch of their Super Bowl trophies.

Notable players besides Brady who appear to have skipped the 1600 Penn visit ... Danny Amendola, Dont'a Hightower, LeGarrette Blount, Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty, James White, Michael Floyd, Chris Long, Dion Lewis, Patrick Chung, and Malcolm Butler.

Aaron Hernandez killed himself in his Massachusetts prison cell late Tuesday night using a bed sheet, this according to prison officials.

The 27-yr-old ex-NFL star had just been acquitted in a double murder case on Friday and his lawyer Jose Baez had told TMZ Sports he believed Hernandez had a real shot at getting a previous murder conviction overturned.

But Wednesday morning, officials at the maximum security Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Massachusetts found Aaron dead in his cell.

"Mr. Hernandez hanged himself utilizing a bed sheet that he attached to his cell window," a rep for the Massachusetts Department of Corrections said in a statement.

"Mr. Hernandez also attempted to block his door from the inside by jamming the door with various items."

Officials say Hernandez was discovered at 3:05 AM on Wednesday morning, and they tried to save his life. He was transported to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:07 AM.

A prison official told local news there does not appear to be a suicide note at the scene.

Aaron is survived by his 4-year-old daughter.

FYI, the Souza-Baranowski CC is considered one of the most high tech maximum security prisons in the country with hundreds of security cameras installed all over the facility.

Officials say they're investigating -- we're guessing there will be TONS of security footage to go through.

Hernandez was serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd. He had also been on trial for killing Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado near a Boston nightclub in 2012 but was found not guilty of murder in that case.

The New England Patriots are still expected to visit President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday ... despite the prison suicide of former Pats player Aaron Hernandez.

The Patriots had been scheduled to visit 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. after winning the Super Bowl -- Hernandez was obviously not a part of the championship team, but people are wondering if the news of his death will be too much of a distraction to go through with the visit.

Aaron Hernandez's lawyer, Jose Baez, is adamant the ex-NFL star is "not a killer" -- and says the jury in his double murder case GOT IT RIGHT with the not guilty verdict.

Baez says there was "an abundance" of reasonable doubt in the case -- and tells us he's very happy for Aaron and his family now that the former New England Patriots tight end has been exonerated.

Another win for the greatest of all time ... with Bill Belichick finding a way to get out of testifying in the Aaron Hernandez double murder case without getting in trouble with the court.

The New England Patriots head coach was initially named a witness for the defense. Unclear what they expected to get out of Belichick, but nonetheless, they wanted his testimony.

So, when he didn't show up during the hearing, questions arose ... until today.

The judge addressed Hernandez's lawyer, Jose Baez, and said the clerk had received a call from Belichick's attorney wondering if he was in trouble for not participating in the case.

Baez explained that his people TRIED to serve Belichick with papers compelling him to testify -- but they had a very hard time getting the papers to the coach in a timely manner.

"The reason for the delay on that part was the community where he lived," Baez told the judge ... "Our process server was not able to get him numerous times."

When they finally got to Belichick, the trial was wrapping up so Baez and his team "made a strategic decision to release him from service of process."

Ultimately, Baez said ... "We didn't think his testimony was critical to the defense so we released him."

Bottom line -- Belichick ducked the court without consequences.